The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1879.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5614, 27 March 1879, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1879.

We have shown that what has , been; called “free trade” in native-land has been the policy of the General Assembly of New Zealand for more than ’ fourteen years. We have shown that since, the year 1765 there has been a succession of Native liands Acts tho end and object 1 of all of which were to give increased facilities for ascertaining native title ■by means of Courts, specially constituted for that purpose, and to encourage private individuals to acquire by purchase or by lease the use of native lands for occupation and settlement. The Native Lands Act, 1873, the latest of the principal Acts, with its amendments,' is now the law of the land, and is the expression of the policy of the people. Even in the last session an amending Act was passed tho object of which was to cure some technical defects which experience had shown to exist in tho Act of 1873 in the administrative machinery of tho Native Lands Court, thus always and avowedly keeping the same policy in view—that of substituting European title and occupation for the Maori title and waste.

Wo are supposed now to be in the enjoyment of what is called Constitutional Government,, and to have Ministers whose duty is to administer the laws as they exist, and to conduct the business of the Colony in accordance with the expressed views of the majority of the representatives of the people in Parliament, whose authority they wield, and to whom they are responsible. That is the, theory. The present practice is, unfortunately, very different. We have, been trying the experiment, in compliment to Sir Geoege GiiEt, ; of the temporary: sub-t sfitutidn'of personal government for, the established constitutional form, and it is satisfactory to find that.there; is. a strong and general feeling nqw, that..there htp-' been enough at least, , if not too much, of. the ““real .Governor” in our present * Prime Minister. Tapanui. jobs and Grahamstown jobs and 1 waggon contracts, special wire jobs and Lucky jobs, Bay of Islands electoral scandals and Laemach land companies, Whakatane

land grants and Legislative Council jobbery, have all been bad enough, but the outcome of personal government in native affairs has been worse,, as ; being more dangerous than all; and of all the branches of the Native Department the Govern-: men I Land Purchase branch :has been undoubtedly the worst. . ' 1

This was the policy of tho Cabinet, as .announced by the Native Minister an Ilia official statement in September last, sis: months ago : “As I have already said, “ we intend to restrict our land-purchase ’ “ operations ' throughout " the -’’country, “ and will offer.no objection to private “ purchasers acquiring land. We intend, “'however,"to meet the* difficulty in-this “ way: Before any title'has been declared “ to be complete we shall require that it “ shall pass through the ordeal of the “ Governor in Council, and for a certain “ number of' months after completion “ of the legal title we shall reserve to n ourselves the right to do one of three “ things—either to take the whole of the “block ourselves, paying the purchase- “ money and tho interest and expenses “that may have accrued; or, secondly, “ to take part of the: block du the same “ terms; or, thirdly, that a certain “ quantity of land bliall be cut up into “ small sections for settlement'. Those “ are the essential conditions we shall “ make in regard to the purchase of any “ native lands in the future.” ~

This was a gentle feeler, an innocent attempt to ascertain what the House could swallow in the way of personal go vet A ment; but it was too much,” and M-. Sheehan readily ascertained that members were not disposed to entrust such power of corruption to Sir George Grey’s or to any other Government. The House of Representatives' was at the ,same time informed that another halLmillion of money would be required to complete the purchases already '’undertaken, and that the available balance of’ the vote for land purchase expenditure was £118,919 only. Under these circumstances, as we have said, and finding that the Assembly would not reversg its policy in regard to dealing with native lands, the Government .were content to shift the production of their Native Lands-Act, and to take an Act amending the Native Lands Act, 1873, to thq extent only of removing some ; technical defects in the action'" of the Nalive Land Courts, and in Addition an Act amending the Government Land Purchase Act, 1877.,. which would . give the same power of removing persons, other than the native owners, found to bo in occupation of or trespassing upon any land proclaimed as being under negotiation for sale, as is possessed by the Crown in respect to land, actually acquired by the complete extinction of the native title. In no other respect, directly ov by implication, can the policy of the General Assembly—that there should be free trade in land, that the native owners should have the right and be encouraged to sell,,- and that the European settler should have the right and be encouraged to buy--be said to have been changed; But the policy of the present Government and the policy of the General Assembly in this matter are very different. Whatever can be done to prevent the acquisition ,of native lands by private persons, except in the cases of a few favored individuals, is being done, and the law which r was .phased’. only for the protection of public interests, already acquired, is being wrested from that object and strained in a. most dangerous attempt to recover for the Government the right of pre-emption over native lands, lo the exclusion oFthe private; purchaser. The Ministry have neither the money nor the Parliamentary authority, to buy additional lands, nor ;aro theyr ever likely to get either the :one or the, other.; yet in a tricky and •_ most, discreditable, manner : they are entering into new engagements and issuing new proclamations,;. less with , the h<?pe of, acquiring land for, the Colony j themselves than with the dpg-in-the-manger view of preventing others from extending the boundaries of settlement,; and of reducing in extent the enormous; “ brotra desert” shbwh upon 1 the ! Official; maps as occupying"the greater part, the; very; heart' of .this; - North. Island,' rand; which blocks its progress so completely. ! On Monday last wo reprinted from the; “New Zealand Herald” an article on the) ‘ ‘ Timber Lands, .pf r Hqkjanga, ” which; illustrates - the general, aqtioii, of the f pre-| sent Government;jn regard to native land’ to,which. we then; earnestly called attention. Messrs Brown- 1 lee and Company are engaged in an en-; deavor-.to. deyplope the timber, trade ini the Hokianga district, and with this view i have entered into engagements for the, purchase of forest landsjromjlie natives. ■ Relying’upon theVxiFtinglaw3,--ffi'eyhave;-already expended;- asT;wo are informed,; some £20,000 .in their enterprise. Because they declined to “ tip” aii'-“ ihflu-j “ ential resideiit” jyitli the sum of £SOO, • Mri Bates, the chairraaniof ,tha;Hokianga County Council —a- gentleman whose,; name, as Mr.' John Lundon’s “ barradn,’’ has already .been heard of in connection with the Bay of Islands electoral scandal —intervenes," and upon’ his- inotioh Sir George Grey, with all the Queen’s subjects'’ and- r the whole human race at his back, steps.in to support the “ influential “resident,” who has failed to black-mail Messrs. Brownlee and Co. in his disinterested-' efforts to deprive ;: ffie native pyvnors of their- right to deal with their own land in ; accordance \yitli law, ajid to drive capital from a district whero it is at present greatly needed. This business, to borrow a phrase from cur Northern contemporary, will certainly bo heard of again. ____________